The Things I Cannot Change

The Things I Cannot Change
Directed byTanya Ballantyne
Produced byJohn Kemeny
StarringKenneth Bailey
Gertrude Bailey
CinematographyPaul Leach
Edited byWilliam Brind
Production
company
Distributed byCBC Television
Release date
  • May 3, 1967 (1967-05-03)
Running time
58 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The Things I Cannot Change is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Tanya Ballantyne and released in 1967.[1] A precursor of the National Film Board of Canada's Challenge for Change program, the film profiles the issue of urban poverty through the story of Kenneth and Gertrude Bailey, parents of a large family coping with unstable employment in Montreal.[2]

The film was broadcast by CBC Television on May 3, 1967 as an episode of the anthology series Festival.[3]

Controversy arose when its cinéma vérité style struck some viewers as exploitative of the Baileys.[4] Kenneth and Gertrude Bailey alleged that, after the film's broadcast by CBC Television, their own reputation in the community suffered so badly that they were forced to move out of their home.[5]

A sequel, Courage to Change, was released in 1984.[4]

  1. ^ "The Things I Cannot Change". Canadian Film Encyclopedia.
  2. ^ "The Tragic Face of Poverty". Montreal Star, April 29, 1967.
  3. ^ Frank Daley, "Television". Ottawa Journal, May 4, 1967.
  4. ^ a b Ina Warren, "Bailey family returns to film". Calgary Herald, December 26, 1984.
  5. ^ Matthew Hays, "The Original Reality Show". The Walrus, November 17, 2015.